Across The Universe
by KiKi121
Summary: Hermione has an obsession eating her away from the inside that has to be dealt with. Tomione, rated M just encase.


Hermione's shoes clicked against the dark turquoise tiles of the Ministry of Magic's lower floors as she paced back and forth. Her face showed the impatience she felt inside as she swatted away a curl that had fallen from her bun. She didn't want to be there and the fact that the place smelt like a musky cave didn't help the situation. Just as she spun around to barge into the room Harry walked out looking crestfallen.

"Harry, how'd it go?" She tried to lower her voice but it came out stressed and hard.

"They want me to be the official spokesperson for the rise against you-know-who in the war and they just kept telling me I couldn't win the war on my own. They kept talking about how I needed their help and they would only help me if I became their puppet!" Harry had become wound up again and began pulling at his hair but Hermione swatted his hand away and took it in hers.

"That's ridiculous. You're not alone because you have me and Ron and the whole damn Order! We don't need them because I know we can bring him down." Hermione spewed the half-lies out in a soft but strong tone as she led him up to the elevator and out of the dreadful place.

She wanted to be certain of their outcome but they were now in some very dark times. The truth was Voldemort was gaining more followers by the hour and their chance of winning was looking more and more dim. Hermione knew they needed Dumbledore and without him they were just a bunch of children and adults fighting with magic they've yet to master. She told herself to throw away the thoughts of the past and the future and focus on the present tasks on hand.

When they apparated to Grimmauld place she sat him down in the comfiest chair next to the fire and excused herself. In the privacy of her room with the door locked she opened a book and began reading. Hermione had been hiding a secret since sixth year when the whole debacle of Dumbledore's unveiling of Voldemort's past had happened; she was obsessed with Tom Riddle. She always told herself it was certainly not in a romantic way because the thought disgusted her and all she was interested in was his knowledge. The truth was if anyone knew how much she thought about it they label her as his follower for looking so highly to him but they had to understand what she did. Hermione understood that while he was an evil man now he wasn't always. He grew up in an awful situation and just wanted revenge and while he did things like opening the Chamber of Secrets that were terrible they were also extraordinary. His magic seemed to have no bounds and that drew Hermione in with dark fascination. Despite the fact that she wanted to murder Voldemort she wanted to study Tom Riddle. Hermione longed to know everything about what made him tick.

So since then she had been planning ways of being able to do just that. The only option that seemed unbelievable and thorough was time travel. Seeing memories wouldn't be enough and she couldn't think of anything else but the idea of trying to travel from 1998 to 1944 for Tom's seventh year of Hogwarts. Hermione had racked her brain thinking of ways to travel fifty four years back in time when her time turner could only take her back a couple days. That was until she found a dark magic book in Dumbledore's office. After he died she had come there to say goodbye and the books seemed to call out to her and before she could protest internally the book flung itself at her. She had blamed it on leftover magic in the air but took the book anyway.

There was a chapter on time travel, significant time travel. The dark wizards had long practiced going through time in larger amounts and Hermione had found herself thinking maybe they weren't so bad because they took chances trying to further their magic while the light was perfectly content learning from rule obligated books and sticking to what kept them grounded in place. She thought, _what was the point of having this magic if a wizard couldn't do extraordinary things?_ The chapter itself had potions for different lengths of time. The smaller lengths like going ten years back were practiced and completely safe but the potion for going a hundred years back was risky and not advised unless practiced by a exceedingly advanced wizard. Hermione thought about how if Riddle had this book he could easily travel hundreds of years back than berated herself for putting him of a pedestal like his followers.

"I'm so grateful no one's here to read my mind." Hermione whispered aloud to herself and bounced herself off the bed and to her feet. She took her wand out and muttered a charm that dissolved the blanket of magic covering her potions corner from being seen. In the pot a gold creamed thick mixture bubbled softly and Hermione clapped her hands together and sighed a breath of relief. So far her potion was going perfectly and if it kept up that way there slim to no chance it wouldn't work. She retrieved the book from her bed and read the next instruction carefully. It was getting to the end and she had to put in the exact date she wanted to travel back to. Ripping a piece of parchment from her bag she wrote in an elegant font, "8:00am, August 31st, 1944, Diagon Alley." Then she dropped it into the potion and watched as it turned to a deep ruby red signalling the potion had finished the stewing process. Her hands shook for a moment before she plucked a nearby vial from the table and filled it with the perfectly made liquid then she set it down next to her, filled another one just encase and then scourgifyed the pot.

Now there was the decision of how to leave her time. She could write a note or she could just leave without explanation which limited the problem of someone trying to stop her or bring her back. She decided to leave a non-descript note saying, "Harry, I'm so sorry but I have to go. I'll be back soon." Hermione laid it on her pillow and packed her books, money and a few essentials in her purse charmed with an undetectable extension charm and looked around the room slowly. She knew this was the right thing to do because if she never did it she might destroy herself with thoughts of what ifs. Her plan was to travel back to his time, enrol herself as a seventh year student and get on the train in time for the new school year where she would befriend Tom and learn everything about him. With her knowledge of France and the language she decided to be a transfer student from Beauxbatons that had originally been born in England but had been moved to France because her mother remarried when she was ten. This would explain her accent and everything else people would want to know. She would then tell them she was dissatisfied with their teachings and wanted a higher school like Hogwarts. Hermione would of course be pureblood and go by the name Hermione Greengrass because it was one of lesser related pureblood families and would be easier to pass off.

Hermione's body shook with anticipation as she hooked the bag around her wrist and raised the potion to her lips. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before gulping down the potion. It tasted like caramel with a hint of pumpkin and it surprised her since most potions tasted awful. Than her body began to feel like it was covered in pins and needles and she disappeared from the place and time with a pop.

When Harry knocked on her room later and walked in when she didn't respond he found a broken vial on the wooden floor and note on her bed. His heart skipped a beat while he read the note and his head heated up in frustration. He didn't understand why she would leave him when he needed her so much. She knew he relied on her, everyone did. She was the brightest witch of her age but now in his eyes she was a deserter. Harry scrunched up the note in his hand and dropped it to the ground as he walked out of the room and slammed the door.

_A/N: Not the best thing I've ever written, that's for sure. It would be great if you could leave any suggestions or feedback so I could get an idea of where it should go and how to improve on it. It feels a little rushed to me but I just wanted to introduce all the information. _


End file.
